


Adlers Never Give Up

by Foxbear



Series: Demon in a Bottle [2]
Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: Aliens, Communication, Dissapointment, Friendship, Gen, Hope, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Misunderstandings, Other, PTSD, Resolute, Robots, Science Fiction, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:29:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22417771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxbear/pseuds/Foxbear
Summary: Scarecrow never touched Samantha in seven months alone together on the Resolute. Adler hoped, well, he hoped. And he paid for it.
Series: Demon in a Bottle [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721167
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24
Collections: Demon in a Bottle





	Adlers Never Give Up

**Adler’s Never Give Up**

**A Lost in Space 2018 Fanfiction**

“We secured him with little trouble,” the shift chief said absently. 

The man’s eyes were skimming over various reports even as he spoke. Adler gave a small amused snort and listened to the report with half an ear. He had been there when they loaded Scarecrow back into his, its, cage after all. But the head of security was a stickler for procedure.

“He did seem more agitated than usual,” the chief went on and then hesitated long enough to catch Adler’s full attention. 

Adler looked at him intently and the chief gathered his thoughts. 

“He really was off,” the chief went on slowly. 

“It was wandering the ship alone for seven months,” Adler pointed out. “That is bound to have an effect on its behavior.”

“I know you tell us not to anthropomorphize him,” the chief said with a frown. “But if I was going to, I’d say he looked like someone was after him.”

“I’d rather say he did,” Adler said with a wry smile. “There was a team of crack security guards after him.”

“We already had him in the box,” the chief said shaking his head. “But he was still looking around, swiveling his head this way and that, all but ignoring us.”

Adler nodded slowly. 

“Please add that to your official observational notes,” he said. 

“Freaked the others out some,” the chief said as he handed Adler the finished reports. “It was the almost the same way he was acting right before the other robots crashed into the ship, both times.” 

“Really?” Adler said with a frown. 

“To a tee,” the chief said with a frown. “That same surge in the red tones. That same near frantic scratching at the bars as if he was trying to get out. That same looking around like he was expecting something. It sure looked like he was responding to another robot attack.” 

“Curious,” Adler said with a frown. “What do you make of it?” 

“I’m not sure,” the chief said with a grim set to his face. “But I’d be very curious to see what all the Robinson’s have onboard the J2.” 

Adler gave a curt nod and glanced over at Scarecrow’s cage. 

“Our usual arrangement is good?” he asked. 

The chief stiffened and glared at him, his face growing even grimmer if that was possible. 

“Adler,” he said in a warning tone. 

“You know I’m good for the payment,” Adler murmured. “And we have every hope of getting home now so you can enjoy it.” 

“That’s not-“ the chief sighed and rubbed his face. “Look Adler, this isn’t just about the piloting thing now. We need every able bodied man if-“ 

“I’ve never let it seriously injure me,” Adler interjected. “Not to the point that it compromised my usefulness to the colony. I will be fine. Do we still have a deal?” 

The chief rolled his eyes and shook his head in exasperation. 

“You know,” he said. “I was super excited when my second girl wanted to be one of you science types. But now it just makes me question if I gave her enough survival instincts.”

Adler chuckled. 

“She is going into botany isn’t she?” he asked. “That offers a few less opportunities for danger than my line of work I suppose.” 

“How much danger did your dad think you’d be getting into when you chose robot brains for your degree?” the chief asked even as he began to enter the necessary codes on the security panel. 

Adler broke into an actual laugh at that. 

“I see your point,” he admitted. “But I suspect that any child of yours will have more common sense than any child of my father’s. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Don’t die, idiot,” the chief said as he stepped out of the door. 

Adler drew in a deep breath as the door closed behind the guard and slowly turned to face the crouched form in the cage. His stomach clenched as decades of instruction began screaming at him that this was madness, worse than madness, it was sentiment. But, no Adler ever gave up on a friend, murmured his grandfather’s voice in his head. Adler stepped slowly past the lines that marked out the electromagnetic field. The muscles on his ribcage rippled in anticipatory fear. Each time he did this it was harder to overcome the learned response to the pain. Every fiber of his flesh, every moment of his training, screamed at him that this was pointless, madness. 

“If this is what they mean by a soul,” Adler said in a rueful tone as he eased the door of the cage open, “I’m not sure how a species with one survived to achieve fire, let alone space flight.”

Scarecrow was acting oddly. Adler could see that from the start. The robot’s remaining fingers were flexing and retracting where it had curled them under its frame. Instead of glancing around as the chief had described Scarecrow was simply facing the direction of the J2, face swirling with more red than Adler had seen there in awhile. 

“What has you so agitated Scarecrow?” Adler asked softly.

Instead of the slow reaction Adler had become used to since the desperate jump to the still nameless system, the jump that had given him so much hope, Scarecrow reacted instantly. His, its, face was swirling with the patterns for threat analysis, or what was left of them in the warped crystal. Instead of simply coming to the edge of the cage Scarecrow surged out of it. He lunged at Adler and the man caught his breath but held still as the alien snatched at his collar. Scarecrow stared at him, into him, frantically and began to gesture towards the J2 even as his face dance with complex information. 

“Threat!” Adler gasped out, feeling the horrible pain of hope surging again in his soul. 

Scarecrow gave a pulse that used to mean confirmation but it was so weak now. He used two hands to grasp Adler’s collar and began a slow careful pattern. 

“Child Young? Negation? All?” Adler repeated each pattern as it flickered into existence. 

Adler followed the flow of ideas as best he could, holding up one hand in the symbol they had worked out in better times to recognize the concept of verb tense modification, past situation continuing into the present. That concept danced around all the patterns he was seeing. His heart was pounding now. All the risks he had taken. Were they finally paying off? Could he finally think of Scarecrow as-

_No, no, no, please no!_

His mind was screaming out the warning even before he fully recognized the red pattern that was materializing from the upper right quadrant of Scarecrow’s, of its display. But, today, no, the meaning laden patterns seemed to be fighting the all too familiar warning. Adler reached up a hand to caress the warped plates on the side of Scarecrow’s head. 

“Please,” he whispered. “Stay with me. Just for another moment. Samantha was fine. You controlled yourself for her sake. For seven months you controlled yourself. Please-”

But the warning lights. The precise, defined patterns were overwhelming the flowing thoughts. Scarecrow was still gripping his collar. Trying to communicate. But Adler felt the all too familiar prod of hot metal at his side. The muscles over his ribs, a stray thought wondered which muscles they were, rippled in anticipation so acute it was a pain in itself as it pulled on old scars. But still he lingered, the hope holding him there was a pain enough that nothing Scarecrow could do to him could possibly compete with it. The familiar fire blossomed in time to the familiar light that danced over the display. Someone was shouting. There was one last yank of pain on his neck as Scarecrow jerked back and flew into his, its, cage. Scarecrow’s head cracked loudly against the top of the cage and the chief stepped into view and slammed the door shut with a curse. 

“You alive Adler?” the chief demanded. 

The man’s face was suddenly blocking Adler’s view of Scarecrow and Adler lurched around him, crawling towards the cage. He peered in, his breath catching heavily in his chest. Scarecrow lifted his, its, display the attack pattern burning bright and constant through the warped crystal. Below it, Adler saw the words the ideas…The scientist shook his head and stood. Or rather, tried to stand. A sudden starburst of pain broke through the haze of hope and despair. 

“Idiot,” muttered the chief as he pulled Adler off the ground. “What did you see that got you so distracted?” 

“Thank you,” Adler gasped. “It looks like I own you my life yet again.”

“You’re not distracting me,” the chief said grimly and he probed the fresh wound on Adler’s ribcage. “What did you see?”

Adler winced and cast one last look at burning red display. His tone was more tired than anything when he finally spoke.

“I saw what I wanted to see,” he said. “Prepare _it_ to be moved to the Jupiter 2.”

“You going to go see the doc?” the chief asked. 

“If I know nothing else about this situation,” Adler said, stepping away from the guard with a gasp of pain. “I know these wounds are sterile. I will be fine.” 

He staggered out of the room without looking back. The chief of the watch stared after him with a sigh and turned back to the cage. The attack pattern had faded and Scarecrow was staring listlessly off into the distance. 

“Craig always said better safe than sorry,” the guard might have been speaking to himself or the figure in the cage. “And I guess the way we treat you now we’ve eliminated safe and have nothing left but sorry. But it sure would be a damn sight easier to treat you like a person if you’d let us.” 

The guard reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards.

“Remember this?” he asked. “Good times eh?”

Scarecrow’s attention seemed to flick up to the cards and then he labouredly turned away and curled himself up in the corner, his display hidden. The guard stood and tucked the cards back into his pocket before calling the rest of the team to help with the transfer.


End file.
